Justin Grosso Claims STSS Crate Win & Hitchens Captures STSS South Crate Points Title at Georgetown’s Mid-Atlantic Championships & Pit Notes

The Short Track Super Series and Georgetown Speedway started the afternoon out with Treat or Treating in the pits and then after darkness set-in turned to the business of determining  STSS South Region 602 Crate Champion and Georgetown 602 Crate Point Champions as well as the winner of the Mid-Atlantic Championship 25 lap $1,500 to win feature.

The 25 lap 602 crate feature was led to green by Justin Grosso and Joe Toth.  It was Grosso taking the lead from the green with Toth giving chase in second for the entire 25 lap feature.  There were 7 cautions for spins, cars over the embankment and one for Steve Kemery who broke on the track.  Toth keep it close but Grosso stayed on the high line and was able to stay in the lead from green to checkered flag and drive into the Georgetown victory lane for the second time this year.

In victory lane Justin Grosso commented “It was a crazy race and I had to keep it out in front and stay out of the holes.  I was dodging holes everywhere and there was an awful lot of them.  I knew my car was good up top and that is usually were I run when I come down here.  I was breathing heavy under all them yellows.”

The top ten was rounded out by Joe Toth in 2^nd, followed by Sammy Martz, Tim Hartman, Anthony Tramontana, Tanner Von Doren, Scott Hitchens, Adam White, Richie Walls and Mike White.

Crate 602 Sportsman South Region Event No. 6 (25 laps) – Georgetown Speedway:

1. JUSTIN GROSSO, 2. Joe Toth, 3. Sammy Martz Jr., 4. Tim Hartman Jr., 5. Anthony Tramontana, 6. Tanner Van Doren, 7. Scott Hitchens, 8. Adam White, 9. Richie Walls, 10. Nick Sapp, 11 Sean Weiss, 12. John Stevenson, 13. Michael White, 14. Dylan Swinehart, 15. Erik McKinney, 16. Jeff Marker, 17. David Jenkins, 18. Nico Flammer, 19. Rick Wegner Jr., 20. Paul Mancini, 21. Stephen Kemery, 22. Robert Dutton, 23. Ryan Higgs, 24. Greg Reed, 25. Greg Humlhanz, 26. Duane Rust.

Did Not Qualify: Brandon Edgar, Chris Grbac, Brett Kern, Maverick Eldridge, B.J. Joly II, Rocky Whitley, Justin Riley, Sean Metz.

602 Crate Pit Notes

Scott Hitchens had a busy day to say the least as he was pulling double duty in his 85 crate entry and the 32H modified entry of Brian Hitz.  Hitchens qualified for the modified feature but had to pull in after 25 laps due to mechanical issues and was a DNF for the modified feature.

In the 602 crate division Hitchens came into the final South Region event leading Tim Hartman by 16 points for the STSS South Region 602 crate championship.  Hitchens knew that he had to finish within 3 positions of Hartman to win the championship by 1 point.  On the starting grid Hartman was in the 8^th starting position while Hitchens started in the 15^th starting spot which gave Hitchens 25 laps to make up 5 positions on Hartman.

Hartman worked his way forward in the field to 3^rd position while Hitchens spun on lap 13 and went over the berm on lap 14 sending him to the back of the field twice leaving Hitchens with 11 laps to move up 11 positions.  Hitchens worked his way up to 9^th while Martz passed Hartman dropping him to 4^th and then caution flew on lap 24 leaving Hitchens with a green checkered restart to make up one position.  Hitchens managed to pick-up the one position he needed on the green/checkered restart and finish in 7th while Hartman couldn’t repass Sammy Martz and stayed in 4^th.  After a wild scramble for 11 laps Hitchens got his 11 positions from 18^th to 7^th and won the STSS South region championship by a mere 1 point.

Postrace Hitchens commented “It wasn’t a pretty way to do it but we did it.  We were really fast but got jammed up twice in the back and got hung up and spun once and went off back once. On the final green checkered restart we knew we got to pass one car and Mike White got bobbled up there on the bottom and we got together and he looped but I wasn’t lifting as it was for all the marbles at that point.  It has been great racing with Tim Hartman and his guys and those guys are class acts all the way.  I flipped my car at Port Royal and Hartman’s guys were the first guys there to help us.  If I got beat I wouldn’t want to be beat by anyone else other than Hartman.  I would like to dedicate this win to Jake Marine and have his number # 85 go out with a bang and retire his # 85 from my car.  I will go back to my usual # 15 next year.”

Joe Toth ran a strong second place finish to Grosso in the feature which also earned him the Georgetown season point championship over the father son team of Mike and Adam White.  In victory lane Toth noted “We were good on the bottom and just needed to be able to hook the right to catch Grosso.  We didn’t tighten up enough to be able to catch him.  We are good here (Georgetown) all of the time and getting closer and closer to the top of the Short Track Super Series Points championship.”  Toth collected the Georgetown 2020 crate track points championship, second place in the feature tonight and a 3^rd place finish in the STSS points behind Scott Hitchens and Tim Hartman.

The top 3 was Justin Grosso, Joe Toth and Sammy Martz Jr who are still teenagers and shows the strong youth movement in the crate division.  Sammy Martz had a strong 3^rd place finish from a 17^th place starting position.  Martz Jr. had a good car that could go high or low which was the exception and not the rule for most of the drivers due to tricky track conditions.

What a difference a week makes.  Last week Tanner Van Doren (TVD) was winning the Eastern States Weekend in grand fashion and this week he got 6^th place which was just as impressive if not more.  The 12 year old youngster showed he has heart and racing character beyond his years and not an ounce of quit in him.  In his heat race Van Doren quickly moved to 2^nd from his 6^th starting position but on lap 4 he got over the back stretch berm and went into a gulley filled with water and splashed water 15-20 feet high and was stranded in the standing water.  Track crews pulled him and instead of going in on the hook he got the car started and stayed out at the back of the field.  A lap later he expectedly pulled into the pits but quickly returned to the track.  His efforts and not giving up on the run got him the 5^th place in the heat and the final qualifying position from the heat race to avoid going to consolation race.  From there Van Doren started 19^th in the feature which he turned into a top ten finish with a 6^th place finish.

Anthony Tramontana finished his short track super series South region points season with a strong 5^th place finish from an 11^th place starting sport.   Tramontana finished 7^th in the STSS points which is another strong showing from the second year driver.

The top 8 in this race were all top 8 in the STSS points with each rising to the occasion at the points finale – 1. Justin Grosso, 2. Joe Toth, 3. Sammy Martz Jr., 4. Tim Hartman Jr., 5. Anthony Tramontana, 6. Tanner Van Doren, 7. Scott Hitchens, 8. Adam White

Richie Walls emerged on the Delaware crate racing scene in mid-August and has been producing consistent top 10 finishes at both Georgetown and Delaware International for the past two months. Walls finished 9^th from a 13^th starting position at Georgetown this week to add to his 10^th place finish last week at the Delaware State Championships last week at Delaware International Speedway.  Walls has started with consistent top 10 finishes in 2020 which is a good baseline and preparation for a move forward during  the 2021 season.

Robert Dutton put a crate motor in 888 entry for this week.  Dutton was running his first crate race ever and won his heat race from the 5^th starting position.  Dutton had mechanical issues in the feature and dropped out on lap 13 in 22^nd position.

Grandview modified regular Dylan Swinehart replaced an unavailable Samantha Muller in the # 19 entry.  Swinehart stayed in the top 5 for the first 23 laps until the front suspension broke on lap 24 and was towed to the pits for a 14^th place finish.

Brandon Edgar made a surprise trip to Georgetown from his home track of Big Diamond.  The 57 team removed their sportsman motor and put their crate engine back in to be able to run the remaining fall schedule.  Carburetor issues keep Edgar from qualifying in the heat while MSD box issues keep the motor from going over 5200 in the consolation leaving the 57 team in the 1^st alternate position but their limited STSS events keep them out of provisional consideration.

Steve Kemery had worked his way up to 5^th from a 12^th starting position to only have mechanical issues retire him for the night on lap 12.

Next up for the Short Track Super Series is the inaugural ‘Cajun Swing’ through Louisiana November 11-14 with two nights of racing at Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Vivian, La., (Wednesday, Nov. 11 and Thursday, Nov. 12) and Qualifying Night for the ‘Mods in the Marsh 75’ paying $20,000 to win on Friday, Nov. 13 at Chatham (La.) Speedway followed by the main event on Saturday, Nov. 14.